I-Corps: Commercial feasibility of a novel strategy for protein dissection

Princeton University, Princeton NJ

Investigators

Abstract

Defining protein sub-structures for structure determination is presently a laborious task that is carried out often by trial and error at the gene level. Scientists are largely unaware of the potential of operating directly on the protein level using commonplace enzymes as surgical tools. The reason the benefits of this method are not obvious is that those enzymes individually lack the surgical precision required to produce a protein sub-structure of interest. The method this I-Corps team has devised takes advantage of the synergy among such enzymes, applying them in parallel to extract information that none of them individually would be capable of delivering. The goal of the I-Corps project is to evaluate the commercialization potential of a novel method to prepare the structural modules of large proteins, and to decide whether the invention warrants pursuit by licensing or by developing a startup venture. The new method greatly simplifies preparation of protein modules suitable for biophysical characterization. Its essential innovation is to apply in parallel a battery of nonspecific proteolytic enzymes and to locate their common early sites of cleavage, which identify the boundaries of structural modules. The method is completely general and can be used on any protein under any solution conditions due to a second innovation, a simple empirical method to calibrate proteolytic activity. To accomplish the goal interviews will be conducted with potential users in academic and industrial settings to understand their current needs and approaches and the value they may place on a new product. The potential contribution of the new method would be to bring a wide range of intractable proteins under study in academia or industry by simplifying preparation of their constituent modules for studies of structure and function.